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The Twins
The Twins, sometimes known as the Crossing, is a castle and the seat of House Frey, the Great House of the Riverlands. It consists of two near-identical towers and a fortified bridge over the Green Fork of the River Trident. The Twins represents the only crossing point over the Green Fork for hundreds of miles in either direction. It is a major barrier to travelers and merchants traveling from the North to the western Riverlands. It lies directly on the main route from Winterfell to Riverrun. Moving from one castle to the other while avoiding the Twins requires a lengthy detour hundreds of miles to the south or hazardously traversing the bogs and swamps of the Neck to the north. Travelers heading south who cannot pass southwest over the Twins must pass southeast along the Kingsroad."Baelor" The Freys' rise began six hundred years before the events of the series with the building of a stone bridge over the Green Fork. It took three generations to build the Twins, but afterwards they quickly grew wealthy by charging passing travelers for the use of the Crossing.HBO viewers guide, season 1 map, The Twins entryHBO viewers guide, season 2 map, The Twins entry The bridge is a massive arch of smooth grey stone, wide enough for two wagons to pass abreast.House Frey (Histories & Lore) Notable residents of the castle * Lord {Walder Frey}, known as "the Late Lord Frey", the ancient lord of the castle. ** {Stevron Frey}, Lord Walder's firstborn son and heir. **{Lothar Frey}, known as "Lame Lothar", Lord Walder's son and Steward of The Twins. **Ser {Walder Rivers}, a bastard son of Lord Walder's by a milkmaid. **{Walder Frey}, known as "Black Walder", Lord Walder's great-grandson. ** {Olyvar Frey} , one of Lord Frey's sons, formerly squire for {Robb Stark}. ** Roslin Frey, Lord Walder's fifth daughter and Lord Edmure Tully's wife. ** {Waldron Frey}, another of Lord Walder's sons, formerly betrothed to Arya Stark. * Lady {Joyeuse Frey}, Lord Frey's eighth wife. Killed by Catelyn Stark during the Red Wedding. *Lord Edmure Tully, attainted Lord of Riverrun and Lord Paramount of the Trident, made a prisoner during the Red Wedding. Lord Walder's vast brood, including sons, daughters, their spouses, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons and great-granddaughters. History Season 1 Robb Stark needs to cross the river at the Twins to face Tywin Lannister's forces in battle, but his mother warns him that Lord Walder Frey is proud, prickly and unreliable. She negotiates on Robb's behalf and wins an alliance: in return for allowing Robb's forces to cross and for the allegiance of House Frey, Robb and Arya must marry some of House Frey's offspring. Robb must also take Olyvar Frey as his squire, a knighthood being expected in due course. Robb accepts the deal. His army crosses the river and splits into two forces, a diversionary force to face Tywin and a larger force to ride hard and attack Jaime Lannister's forces north of Riverrun. Season 2 The Twins are referenced in conversation between Robb Stark and his eventual bride Talisa Maegyr on the topic of Robb's promised betrothal to any Frey girl of his choosing - upon asked why, Robb declares that The Twins is "a very important bridge". Season 3 After the funeral of his grandfather, Robb Stark comes to conclusion that drastic action must be taken to force the Lannisters to surrender, by taking Casterly Rock. This plan is hindered by the murder of two Lannister children, Martyn and Willem, who were Robb's prisoners, by his bannerman Rickard Karstark - causing Robb to take Rickard's head as justice for defying his orders. This action leaves Robb without the support of House Karstark and a large portion of his army, so he seeks to redeem his favor with House Frey and Walder Frey by marrying his uncle to a Frey girl. As Robb had defied the oath he had took to marry a Frey girl himself, he was on bad terms with the Twins, but all seems to be forgiven. The events that follow became known as the Red Wedding, and reveal the treacherous intentions of House Bolton and Roose Bolton, as well as the wrath of Lord Walder Frey as he orders an ambush attack after the bedding ceremony, resulting in the demise of Robb Stark, his wife Talisa Stark and his mother Catelyn Stark, the imprisonment of Edmure Tully and the massacre of some of Robb's bannermen and a large amount of Northern soldiers in the camps outside the Twins. Season 6 After Jaime Lannister takes back Riverrun from the Blackfish, he arrives at the Twins, where Lord Walder congratulates him on his victory and goes so far as to compare himself to Jaime, stating that they are both Kingslayers. This irritates Jaime, who informs Walder that the Lannisters would not help him if he failed to keep order in the Riverlands. Later, as Walder is eating, he is assassinated by Arya Stark, who kills him in revenge for her brother's and mother's deaths at the Red Wedding . Season 7 Disguised as Walder, Arya assassinates the remaining male members of House Frey, avenging all the Stark forces slaughtered at the Red Wedding, by poisoning wine given to them. She gives a message to Walder's wife Kitty Frey that "Winter came for House Frey", before leaving the Twins. Image Gallery Twins long.jpg|'The Twins', seen from downriver The Twins east tower.jpg|The eastern tower The Twins looking west.jpg|The bridge and the western tower, from inside the eastern The Twins Title Sequence.jpg|as shown in the title sequence The Twins 3x09.jpg|The Twins in Season 3 The Twins' hall in season 1.png|Walder Frey's throne room in the Twins in "Baelor" The Twins' hall in season 3.png|Walder Frey's throne room in the Twins in "The Rains of Castamere" The Twins' great hall in season 3.png|The great hall in the Twins in "The Rains of Castamere" Outside of the Twins.png|Outside the Twins in "The Rains of Castamere" Behind the scenes Production Designer Gemma Jackson explained the visual aesthetic of the Twins, and the underlying reasoning behind it: :"In Season 1, we built a grubby little space. It was really old and painted and water was coming down - it was rather sinister. We wanted to get an aspect of that again. Because Lord Walder is mean, we did this beaten up, old leather the furniture. We used his sigil on the arches - you can see very old bits of paint just coming through. The idea is the place is getting incredibly shabby, and he doesn't want to spend any money on it.""Walk of Punishment", HBO-Go Inside-the-Episode feature The Freys actually are a wealthy family - but they gained their wealth relatively recently, starting six hundred years ago when they built the first bridge across the river and began exacting river tolls. The older noble Houses of the Riverlands look down on them as upstarts. Lord Walder became rich by being miserly, however. He has no sense of shame, so he'd rather have a leaky roof in need of repair and worn down furniture, than spend any money on replacing them, regardless of the public appearance this to the other noble families. He's too cheap to buy nice things. Also, Jackson noted that the twin turret sigil of House Frey was worked into the furniture: the corner posts of the back of Lord Walder's chair look like the two castle turrets of the Twins. In the books In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, House Frey was a minor house of the Riverlands until six hundred years ago. The Lord of the house at that time raised a wooden bridge over the narrowest part of the Green Fork. This Crossing was initially defended by a single tower that overlooked both banks of the river. Now, however, thanks to the wealth they generated through the toll they charged on those who used the bridge, the wooden tower has been replaced by two strong stone ones, from whence they get their name, complete with portcullises, moats and barbicans. The bridge itself is covered and wide enough for two wagons to travel abreast. The Crossing has its own tower, named the Water Tower. House Frey's rise gained them vassal houses of their own: Houses Charlton, Erenford and Haigh. See also * References de:Zwillinge pl:Bliźniaki ru:Близнецы uk:Близнюки fr:Les Jumeaux pt-br:As Gêmeas ro:Gemenii Category:Castles Category:House Frey Category:Locations in the Riverlands Category:Locations